When was Roseanne Barr fired? Comedian called out over hypocrisy following sarcastic Jimmy Kimmel suspension post

Comedian and actress Roseanne Barr is coming under fire for her comment on last night talk show host, Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. Barr wrote a sarcastic comment on X after ABC announced that Kimmel’s show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! would be taken off air indefinitely after the host made contentious claims about conservative activist, Charlie Kirk and his alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson.

The reboot of Roseanne Barr’s own show, Roseanne was cancelled in 2018 after the comedian made a controversial racist comment on the then-White House advisor Valerie Jarrett. The comment led to a punitive action for Barr, and ABC cancelled the reboot after only one season and fired Barr.

As per NPR, in the tweet for which Barr was fired, she used tone-deaf language to describe Jarrett, and wrote,

“muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj.”

According to NPR, at the time ABC responded sternly, and while announcing the network’s decision to terminate the 11th season of Roseanne, Channing Dungey, the ABC Entertainment president said in a statement,

“Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

From Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."
There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.

— Robert Iger (@RobertIger) May 29, 2018

Eventually, Barr also issued an apology. As per The Guardian, Barr took to what was then called Twitter, and wrote,

“I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me – my joke was in bad taste.”

Addressing her audience and other employees of the show, Barr added in another statement,

“Today my words caused hundreds of hardworking people to lose their jobs. I sincerely apologise to the audience that has embraced my work for decades.”

What did Roseanne Barr say about Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension has become a contentious issue on social media. Kimmel, during the Monday night broadcast of his show, referred to Charlie Kirk’s alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, and as per BBC, claimed that he was part of the MAGA movement, which is composed of President Trump’s supporters. He said,

“The Maga Gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

In the wake of his comments, Kimmel’s show was taken off air and a spokesperson of ABC said that it had been “pre-empted indefinitely,” according to BBC.

The internet and social media is largely divided, with many netizens coming to the comedian’s defense and claiming that his right to free speech had been violated by his suspension. Meanwhile, others applauded the network for their stance on the issue and the suspension of Kimmel.

Barr took to social media to clap back on X when a netizen criticized the Republican administration for allegedly putting pressure on networks to suspend comedians and talk show hosts by comparing it with the Democrat administration under former President Joe Biden. Barr reacted to the comment by seemingly referring to her own firing from ABC, and wrote,

“Yeah imagine an administration putting pressure on a television channel to fire a comedian they didn’t like.”

Yeah imagine an administration putting pressure on a television channel to fire a comedian they didn’t like. https://t.co/gR3hTSVJ9f

— Roseanne Barr (@therealroseanne) September 18, 2025

However, Barr was accused of being a hypocrite by netizens who pointed out that at the time that Barr was fired from ABC, the first Trump administration, who she has been vocally supportive of, was in power. One netizen wrote,

“Your firing literally happened under the first Trump administration lmao”

As of the writing of this article, Barr is yet to respond to netizens criticizing her stance.